Wick's Water

[tides of pentland firth]

Has anyone eles noticed the sharp decline in the taste of the water? Any reasons?

[Mr Ben]

Yes I've noticed the decline in a big way, decided to go and buy bottled water yesterday because it's gotten so bad.

No idea why it's gone this way but we pay them enough money for then to provide good quality water.

[dragonfly]

its not just Wicks water, Thurso's water also has a nasty chemical taste lately. I too have decided to drink bottled water from now on - only 18p for 2l in Lidl :D :D

[Naefearjustbeer]

The new improved :~( water treatment facillity is the thing I would blame. Did you see in the groat when Prince Charles opened the place he declined to taste the water :eek: Our water has had a strong chlorine like smell ever since the place opened. Scottish water were meant to be sending someone round to test our water but they never showed. Can we opt out of paying water rates ???

[Riffman]

Yup I've noticed that the water tastes a bit yuck. As well as the new water treatment place, it is also due to the weather; in bad weather the water in the lochs gets stirred up and it makes it taste of earth or peat, not dangerous, just yuk.

[Elena]

Didn't the same thing happen last year about this time? So perhaps it is the algae or mud in the lochs like the waterboard claimed.

[Liz]

Our water has a horrible 'foosty' earthy taste. :roll:

I have now got a filter which also removes fluoride.

[Naefearjustbeer]

Our water definantly has a chemical smell to it. It smells like the swimming pool when I run a bath.
Not at all earthy to taste better sticking to drinking beer :)

[MadPict]

I recall on one my last visits some item about additives being added to the supply - additives which would kill 'pet' fish if the wrong water conditioner was added - it sounds like the 'stronger' water has a stronger taste!!!

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/MadPict/images/flaminblob.gifMadPict
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/MadPict/images/gruff_ext.gif

[Geo]

Yip it's been tasting a bit strange for a while. A friend mentioned it too, and he's down in Lybster. Didn't they start adding chlorine to it a few months ago?

[toodiemac]

I reported the strong taste to Scottish water and they came to test it. Apparently there isn't much they can do until more people phone in to report their own water tasting strange, so make sure you get on that telephone!

I was told that the water is perfect when it leaves the treatment plant, so something must be happening to it between there and our taps (but they don't know what). I also know of people who are getting bottled water delivered free on a regular basis because they can't stand the stuff coming out of the taps.

[tides of pentland firth]

I think this is another case where the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", would come in handy. Why do we bacteria free water? It's bad for our immiune system. I don't see what was wrong with the water plant at Toffcarl. [disgust]

[George Brims]

Tides wrote:
>Why do we [need] bacteria free water?

One word: Cholera

A few more: Salmonella, listeria, amoebic dysentery

All these things, and many more, kill children at the rate of 4,000 per day in the third world, where clean water is hard to come by.

Read the depressing facts here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3601350.stm

Now it sounds like Scottish Water may have overdosed the Caithness supply, or maybe the bad taste is to do with the rainy weather, but count your blessings people!

[daviddd]

Disinfection has to be applied to account for the furthest-away user of this (now) very widespread system, which I think will be in Tongue, 60 miles or more away. So it's harder to get the correct amount just right. Trial and error - and especially complaints - will allow this relatively new network to be disinfected by Scottish Water at the appropriate level. If folk don't complain it may take longer to achieve this level. ;) :roll:

[JAWS]

Chlorinating water to destroy the dangerous causes of water borne diseases is obviously beneficial. Over chlorination can occur from time to time any system will occasionally go wrong, but this should only last for a short period of time until the fault is rectified and the water in the pipes is flushed out by use.

If the problem of poor taste is long lasting then there must be another cause. If the problem is caused by abnormally heavy rain then once again, once that problem had stopped then the taste would return to normal and other areas locally would have the same problem from time to time.

What may come as a shock to some people is that this is the North of Scotland and, believe it or not, from time to time it rains very hard, very hard indeed.
If heavy rain is the problem then this is a ready made excuse for Scottish water, it is a problem which common sense should have said was probable and a problem which they should be rapidly trying to solve!

[tides of pentland firth]

Thats not what I meant George. We dont live in the third world. When was the last time you heard of anyone in Caithness catching cholera, salmonella, listeria or amoebic dysentery? We will catch more dieseses if we never get immune to any of them because of bacteria free water.

[George Brims]

I doubt that drinking bacteria free water (and washing your raw fruit and vegetables in it too) to protect yourself against water-borne diseases is really going to make that much difference to your immune system. The rest of your environment has plenty more bugs to keep your immune system challenged (unless you're a total clean freak and douse everything in your house in chemicals - bad idea IMHO). I try to hit a balance myself. I will happily eat unwashed fruit if I know it isn't covered in pesticides. To be honest the man-made chemicals worry me more than the germs!

Salmonella and listeria are an ever present danger as is of course good old E. Coli. Wasn't it the latter that killed a bunch of customers of a buthcher's shop in Scotland a few years ago?

If you want to know about cholera in Caithness go and look at the statue on the way up to the railway station. Dr Alexander was credited with stopping the last widespread cholera epidemic in the county. Now that was more than a century ago, but given the unbiquity of world air travel, we're all that much closer to the next one than our parents' generation.